Promises
by DisguisedasInnocent
Summary: Ivy needs Rachel to promise her that she won't go after Trent Kalamack again, but the redhead can't promise that. The vampire decides that if she can't promise her that she won't get herself into trouble, she should accept a way to get herself out of it.


_Author's Note: This was inspired partly by a piece of fiction written by someone else on this site, but the idea of it grabbed me and wouldn't let me go until I wrote something on it too. This is set somewhere around the end of the first book of the Series _Dead Witch Walking_ I think... not totally sure on that. The timeline of the books isn't something I know too well..._

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_The red haired woman sighed softly as she turned her head towards the pale faced vampire; she could see the tension in the woman's body in her face, the way that her eyes narrowed and her lips drawn tight together. "I can't promise you that Ivy," Rachel whispered softly, ducking her head slightly to look at the ground before returning her gaze to the woman's eyes. "I just, can't."

"Tell me you are not going after Kalamack again Rachel!" Ivy pleaded, moving toward the bright haired witch, "Tell me that you are not going to put yourself in any more trouble."

"I can't Ivy, you know me." The witch replied with a shake of her head as she turned her head and looked out of the window, "He can lock me up in another cage, torment me every second of the day and make everything else he's done to me but I can't say that I will not go after him again."

"Yes you can!" Ivy implored, "I can keep you safe as long as you don't put yourself in any more danger, Rachel please, don't be your usual reckless self."

"Ivy..." Rachel sighed softly, shaking her head and running her hand down her face as she tried to think about what to tell the other woman, "Do you think Kalamack could say that he wouldn't go after me if he had the chance? Do you think he could say that he would leave me be, if I posed a threat to him?"

"No." The vampire replied softly, her eyes clenching closed for a moment before opening again the pure blackness staring into Rachel's bright green eyes. "But I can keep you safe, I can keep you from getting hurt, just as long as you don't go after him yourself I can keep you safe from him."

"But you can't keep me from being scared of him," Rachel replied, "You can't keep him from making me feel threatened and afraid; I have to do this to help myself Ivy."

"Then let me help you!" Ivy begged, moving towards the woman standing right in front of her so that she could look down into the shorter woman's bright eyes. "Become my scion."

"I..." Rachel shook her head slowly, her mind flashing to the images she had of Kisten and Piscary, Piscary could invade the man's head whenever he wanted to and make him do anything that he wanted him to just because he had been given that power over the man. "I can't do that Ivy!"

"Why can't you? It would be easy-"

"Until you died," Rachel interrupted the woman's words, "Then what would you do?"

"I'd use you for whatever means I thought best." Ivy replied, her hands clenching by her side as she tried to keep her emotions together. Once again, her vampiric nature meant that she was a danger to the one woman that she had loved so intensely and powerfully for so long. It hadn't been a quick thing to happen, but all the months that Rachel interned with Ivy their relationship grew and they began to grow closer the feeling that the vampire had for the witch also grew. "What if I found a way to keep my soul, what if I could prevent that situation?"

"Then I would consider it," Rachel replied easily. She knew that she was as in love with the vampire as Ivy was with her and without the woman she was nothing, without Ivy to turn to and be supported by Rachel knew that she would have been dead weeks ago, probably years. The only thing holding the witch back from being with her vampire roommate was the fact that she didn't know just how far she could allow the relationship to go, she knew she couldn't let herself become a scion to undead Ivy. That would have killed her inside and out, because even though the vampire would drain her repeatedly Rachel knew that she would let her do it because she loved her.

"Help me?" Ivy asked, hanging her head, her chin on top of the shorter woman's shoulder, as she pressed closer to the woman's body for warmth and comfort. The vampire might not have usually been a very intimate person, but when it came to Rachel, she made any excuse that she could to be closer to the woman.

"With anything," Rachel replied easily, pressing her lips to the top of the vampire's head as she wrapped her arms around the woman's body and pulled her closer. The witch knew from experience with the vampire that she was harder on herself that she actually needed to be, but nothing the redhead ever said would change that because of the way that Ivy judged herself. She thought because she couldn't stay around Rachel without reacting to her instincts then she was a threat to the other woman, but Rachel knew it to be different. Rachel knew that reacting to her instincts didn't mean that the dark haired woman would act on them, just that she noticed that they were there. "You know I trust you, don't you Ivy?"

"Of course," Ivy was quick reply to the woman's inquiry. She knew that Rachel relied on her to protect her, and the pixies; Ivy was the reason that Rachel had somewhere to stay that wouldn't be attacked. It wasn't that the church couldn't be attacked, it would be easy, but because Ivy lived there and Ivy was a Tamwood, it just wouldn't be attacked.

"Then listen to be as I tell you that I trust you to protect me, even if it is from yourself." Rachel pressed on, her arms tightening around the vampire's waist as she felt her moving to turn away. "I'm not going to let go Ivy, you're not going to hurt me."

"How do you know, Rachel?" Ivy cried, her voice taking on the hard edge of desperation. "I don't know that I won't just lean down and feast on your blood, how is it you can know something about me that I don't!"

"Because I know you Ivy, I know that you love me, I know that when you think about hurting me, even by accident, it makes you feel physically sick. I know that you dream about kissing me lightly as we sit together in the living room or here in the kitchen. I know that you want me to be lying next to you in your bed at night when you are trying to sleep." Rachel replied a faint blush spreading over her cheeks as she mentally hoped that she wasn't being too presumptuous.

"How can you?" The living vampire gasped, her hands tightening for a moment on the redhead's shoulders as she used her grasp to pull their two bodies apart slightly. The living didn't move enough that she forced their bodies to separate, only enough that she was able to look down into the expressive green eyes in front of her and search for the truth within those depths.

"Because I want the same things," The redhead replied easily, "I want to hold you, I want to kiss you, I want to feel you against me at night and more importantly Ivy, I've seen those wants in your eyes too."

"I didn't mean to press you." The dark haired woman whimpered, her eyes sliding closed, "I didn't mean for you to know, I didn't want you to feel like you were being hunted."

"I know, and I don't. You never acted on those feelings Ivy because you didn't think they would be returned." Rachel replied, "The only reason I can be so clear about all this now is because I've had the months of free space to get used to the idea that you like me, and then I started to notice things about myself and about you. I realised that I fell for you a long time ago, but back then, I didn't allow myself to think that those feelings would ever be returned. I didn't realise that they might be so I refused to feel them."

"Become my scion," Ivy whispered again, "Become my scion so I can keep you safe Rachel, I promise that while I'm alive I won't do anything to hurt you."

"But you can't promise about when you die Ivy, that's the problem." Rachel replied softly, stroking her fingers over the vampire's cheek, cupping it gently within the palm of her hand before leaning forward and pressing a gentle kiss to the woman's soft skin.

"I can promise you that before my aura disappears I'll walk into the light of the sun." Ivy replied, "I know I'll have control for a while, control enough to do that. I'll stake myself through the heart with a cross for you Rachel, I won't let it happen that you are made into a shadow, become my scion and no other vampire can touch you."

"You'd kill yourself for me?"

"Twice if I had to," The vampire replied, conviction hard in her tone as she looked down into the witch's eyes. "I can promise you that Rachel, if you do not find a way to save my soul, I'll kill myself a second time to stop you going through the pain of being my shadow. You'll always have your freewill as long as I am alive, I know we disagree on things, but I'll never take that away. I promise."

"I…" Rachel paused for a moment, considering her words before she replied, "I believe you."

"You'll let me bind you?" Ivy asked, her tone turning almost excited as she spoke, desire and want shining in her eyes as she thought about being connected to the witch so intimately.

Rachel nodded slowly, "I will, as long as you become my familiar."

"Thank you," Ivy sighed, lowering her head enough that she was able to ghost her lips over the redhead's cheek before she continued down to the woman's bright red lips. "I'm going to kiss you now."

"Thank God," Rachel moaned, tangling her fingers within the vampire's hair as she used her grasp to keep the woman's lips connected to her.


End file.
